1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to ablution faucets and, more particularly, to an ablution faucet having a hand-held control unit which is always biased to a valve-closed position and which enables the flow of water to be easily modulated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Although wall-mounted hygenic devices such as ablution faucets have been provided previously, these prior devices have failed to address certain considerations. It is important in a personal hygiene device such as an ablution faucet that the hand-held portion of the faucet be comfortable and include valve-actuating components which are easy to manipulate. It is important that the flow of water can be modulated from a slow rate to a rapid rate in a uniform, precisely controllable manner. Prior ablution faucets have not been able to control the flow of water in a uniform, predictable manner. It also is desirable that different nozzle configurations be made available so as to provide for different requirements of individual users. Prior ablution faucets have not been particularly easy to manipulate, and the configuration of the hand-held portions of the faucets, coupled with the types of nozzles available, has limited the usefulness of the devices.
In order to relieve water pressure in flexible hoses during periods of non-use and in order to prevent the hand-held unit from leaking, wall-mounted control valves have been provided to shut off the flow of water to the hand-held portion of the faucet. Although wall-mounted shut off valves are known, prior shut off valves have tended to leak, obviously an undesirable result. Moreover, prior wall-mounted control valves have not provided an integral vacuum breaker feature as commonly is required by plumbing codes.
Yet an additional difficulty with prior wall-mounted control valves has been the need to turn the valve off manually after the ablution faucet has been used. Desirably, an ablution faucet would include a wall-mounted control valve which would automatically assume a non-flow conducting position whenever a hand-held control valve is moved to a non-fluid-conducting position. In short, it would be a very desirable feature for an "upstream" control valve to be shut off (thereby relieving pressure in the hose) whenever a hand-held control valve is shut off. By this approach, the task of shutting off the wall-mounted control valve would be eliminated, and there would be no chance that the hose could burst due to high water pressure inadvertently being maintained in the hose for an extended period of time.